The IVF Process for Egg Donors

The IVF Process for Egg Donors

Growing Generations wants to thank all our egg donors and potential egg donors for the wonderful service they are performing for our parents. So what is the process like?

Growing Generations has an entire team of people who will make the process as smooth and comfortable as possible. First, you will talk with a psychologist to determine if this is the right process for you. You will talk to a geneticist to discuss your medical and genetic history. A physician will walk you through the entire process of egg donation and collect your medical history, medication history, and discuss any medical problems you may have such as prior surgery, if you have donated before, and discuss in detail your menstrual cycles and frequency. This information is needed to best treat you.

In addition, you will undergo a pelvic ultrasound to look at your ovaries to help determine the health of your eggs and the best hormones to stimulate egg production. Although very personal, all these procedures are there to provide you the best care and make sure that it is a safe process for you and the recipient parents.

As you begin the treatment cycle, you will visit the IVF doctor regularly for ultrasounds and blood tests. Most women produce only one or two eggs a month. For egg donations about 10 to 20 eggs are needed. Fertility medications help to stimulate the production of more eggs. Sometimes those medications need to be adjusted to make the right amount of eggs and to time the egg retrieval.

Egg retrieval is a minor surgical procedure performed with a needle. An anesthetist will put you under twilight sedation and monitor you while the retrieval is performed. You will not need to be intubated and you will wake up shortly afterwards. You will be monitored for an hour or two, then sent home. Usually you can return to work or school the next day and continue on with your normal life.

Please watch this video with as Dr. Bradford Kolb, medical director of HRC Fertility, provides more details about the process.